Two joint interviews and 10 focus groups conducted with 80 healthcare staff across a range of primary, secondary and speciality care settings in 2010 explored their views regarding the provision of culturally appropriate palliative care for Māori, Pacific Island and Chinese elders living in Auckland, New Zealand. Participants regarded the involvement of family as fundamental to the provision of palliative care for older people. The healthcare staff indicated the importance of enabling family members to provide ‘hands-on’ care for Māori and Pacific Islanders, while the role of family in decision-making was fundamental to the delivery of and satisfaction with care for older Chinese family members. Chinese elders favoured collective decision-making. Care staff highlighted the importance of appreciating individual preferences both within and across cultures as a fundamental aspect of palliative care provision. They maintained that the role of family in ‘hands-on’ palliative care and decision-making requires care staff to relinquish their role as ‘expert provider’. Finally, they considered that it is important to provide families with the requisite knowledge and skills to give care to older family members.
